Updated at 11:57 p.m. Thursday with comments from Cedar Hill school district officials.

Jaqkolbi Wesley thought he might like to spend his Friday nights playing football. Instead, the Lancaster junior has found a greater purpose: engineering.

Wesley and several other students saw their hard work put into action recently when a plane they built as part of a STEM project took off on a test run before it begins its real mission — taking medical supplies to impoverished countries.

"I played football, then I realized it wasn't for me," Wesley told WFAA-TV (Channel 8). "I found something else for myself. Engineering was the outlet for me."

Lancaster students pose with the plane they built to fly humanitarian missions to impoverished countries.

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Kimberly Simpson

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Lancaster ISD

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The Cessna 182 was built with Barrington Irving's Experience Aviation program, a partnership that began a few years ago when Lancaster students teamed with Irving to build a car.

In 2007, at age 23, Irving became the youngest person and the first Jamaican to fly solo around the world.

The students did everything involved in constructing the plane but didn't get a chance to fly in it.

"It was so exciting. It made me very happy to know that we did not mess up," sophomore Elizabeth Millard said. "We built this thing that could help hundreds and thousands of people."

One Lancaster ISD staffer did get to be a part of the plane's test fight.

"My first thoughts as the plane began to ascend into the air was, 'Wow, our students built an airplane and I'm flying in it!'" said Kyndra Johnson, Lancaster's executive director of Academics and Innovation. She can be seen in the WFAA video clapping enthusiastically as the plane takes off.

St. Louis-based nonprofit Wings of Hope will operate the plane, which took off at 8 a.m. Saturday morning for its first mission trip to Nicaragua.

DeSoto wins big

The DeSoto school district recently was awarded one of the largest grants in its history, a five-year, $15 million gift from the federal government.

"The reaction was like enthusiasm on steroids," said Debbye Garner, DeSoto's executive director of Magnet and Innovative Programs. She joked about receiving a document from the government and "795 pages later, we found out we had won."

DeSoto school district board members and officials, including Debbye Garner (right), celebrate receiving a $15 million check with students from Woodridge Elementary.

(DeSoto ISD)

But in reality, she received a congratulatory letter from U.S. Sen. John Cornyn that tipped her off to the good news.

DeSoto and Houston ISD were the only districts in Texas to receive the grants.

"Usually they go to really big-city schools, but can you imagine our little suburban district getting a reward like this?" Garner said.

Grant money will go to seven of the district's 13 magnet campuses: Woodridge Elementary and McCowan Middle, both fine arts academies; Young Elementary and East Middle, two medical magnets; Moates Elementary, a blended learning center; and two campuses to be named later.

The grant will facilitate curriculum modifications and revisions and improve college readiness, but that will come down the road, Garner said.

"The very first thing we're going to do is hired qualified staff to implement these programs," she said.

Cedar Hill gears up

Schools in Cedar Hill will have $6.3 million to play with after the district received a Gear Up grant of its own, much like DeSoto did in 2014.

The grant will assist sixth- and seventh-graders at Coleman and Permenter middle schools with college and career readiness. District officials estimate that about 1,200 students will benefit from the program.

"This grant is unique because the funds follow the students through their first year in college," said Jo Rucker, Cedar Hill's assistant superintendent of academics. "The district will use these funds to provide additional support to students by hiring new academic staff and instructional coaches, purchasing new technology and helping students envision college life through campus visits."

School officials plan to celebrate the grant at a get-together at 1 p.m. Oct. 31 at the L. Kim Lewis Auxiliary Services Center, 202 E. Belt Line Road.